Andrew Fowler

Andrew Fowler died on January 4, 2003, at the age of 92. At the time of his death, he was one of the oldest and longest-serving pastors in the city and in the United States.

In early 1974, the proposed D.C. Home Rule Act would have given the District an elected mayor and a 13-member city council—that is, if the citizens passed the referendum scheduled for May 7, 1974. Several D.C. community leaders and home rule proponents denounced the legislation as a token effort, but Fowler and the Committee of 100 Ministers made it clear that it was not all they wanted, but it was all they had. Feeling that the citizens of the District needed to be educated regarding the Home Rule bill, and since the Committee of 100 represented over 25,000 people, he organized and conducted educational seminars aimed at turning out high numbers of “yes” votes. On January 2, 1975, the District's first elected officials took the oath of office. Walter E. Washington (a good friend of Fowler's) served one four-year term as elected mayor, and was succeeded by Marion Barry in 1979.

In addition to her roles as wife and mother, Mrs. Fowler continued her career in education, and in 1968, she became a permanent faculty member at Woodrow Wilson High School teaching World History, Sociology, and American History, a position from which she retired in 1979. As First Lady of Capital View, she was also a volunteer at her husband's church.

Fowler received recognition for his contributions in the religious spectrum over the course of his lifetime, and continued to maintain professional affiliations with several religious organizations. In 1960, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree by the Lynchburg Seminary and College (now Virginia University of Lynchburg) for his outstanding work as a denomination leader, teacher, builder, civic leader, missionary, and pastor.

While pastor of Capital View, Fowler had developed a relationship with Rev. Dr. William H. Jernagin, then President of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, founder of the Washington Baptist Theological Seminary, chair of the National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches (NFCNC), and a nationally recognized figure in religion and civil rights. After delivering a message at the Seminary's chapel service, Fowler became an instructor at the school in 1947 teaching English and literature. The Seminary's purpose was "to train Christian ministers and religious workers the history and doctrines of the Baptist denomination." In May 1970, he was elected interim president of the school. In addition to acquiring the personal libraries of well-known African American Baptists, the school's alumni continually responded to Fowler's pleas for additional endowment funds. In 1976, Fowler was formally named president of the seminary, a vantage point from which he was able to continue to effect positive changes for the school and its students. By 2002, under Fowler's leadership, the Seminary had in its endowment well over a million dollars.

In August 1940, Fowler was ordained a Baptist preacher by his childhood pastor, Rev. Lipscomb at his home church in Inman, Zion Hill Baptist. In early March 1941, at the age of 31, he was unanimously elected the third pastor of the Capital View Baptist Church in Northeast, Washington, D.C., after the church's second pastor had accepted a chaplaincy in the Army. Capital View had developed a fine fellowship with the churches throughout the city and Fowler impressed the church leadership by reorganizing its financial operations, bringing in new members, and sharing with the congregation his vision for the future. Within five years of his appointment, Fowler disbursed all of the church's debts, spearheaded the construction of a new $330,000 edifice, and led the church to contribute annually to denominational schools and affiliate with numerous local organizations, including the National Urban League, the Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home Association, the DC chapter of the Tuberculosis Association, the local branch of the NAACP, and the Mayor's Emergency Committee on Health. While initially elected to serve as pastor for one year, Fowler served Capital View faithfully until the day of his death—62 years.

While initially considering matriculation at Harvard University upon graduation from Tuskegee, Fowler decided to move to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., to attend the Howard University School of Religion (now Howard University School of Divinity). Since he planned to lead an African American congregation, he felt Howard would be the better choice. He arrived in Washington in August 1937, and stayed for the remainder of his life. With this period of transition, he became one of more than six million African Americans who came from the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, a movement that has come to be known and defined as the Great Migration. In September, he commenced study at the School of Religion and found his teachers, which included Benjamin Elijah Mays, Dean of the School of Religion, and Howard Thurman, Dean of the Chapel, to be capable and dedicated. He graduated from Howard in June 1940 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. While working on his degree, Dr. Mays had secured him an apprenticeship at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Earl L. Harrison. In June 1943, Fowler earned his Master of Arts degree in Religious Education from Howard.

Fowler received his high school diploma in plumbing in 1933, graduating as the highest ranking male student academically. He entered college at Tuskegee in 1933, majoring in History and minoring in Sociology. He was mainly interested in history. Since he had arrived at Tuskegee, he had to work to pay for his tuition, to eat, have clothes to wear, and have a place to live. During this time, the entire country was in the midst of the Great Depression. Securing a job as a janitor, he worked the remaining semesters until, at the age of 27, after eight years at Tuskegee, he graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science degree in May 1937.

At the encouragement of the principal of the African American school in Inman, Fowler took and passed the senior class final examination test, which allowed him to graduate. A short time later, the president of the bank in which he worked introduced him to a gentleman named Acie Thompson, who was acquainted with the president of Tuskegee Institute (now known as Tuskegee University), Dr. Robert Russa Moton. Thompson suggested that Fowler enroll at Tuskegee. Fowler took his advice and arrived at Tuskegee Institute in September 1929. Tuskegee was representative of industry, research, morality, religion, and wholesome traditions, and he was therefore assured the privilege to study academic subjects, but it also required to study a trade. During his time there, he met many members of the faculty, including Dr. Moton, George Washington Carver, and Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. By his second year at Tuskegee, Fowler had made a name for himself around campus because of his academic achievements, and he remained committed to his religious life, singing hymns in both the morning and evening vespers Chapel services.

While serving his apprenticeship at Shiloh Baptist Church, Fowler found himself attracted to one the parishioners, Miss Henrietta Roberta Hatter (June 16, 1913 - December 25, 2004), Hatter was a native Washingtonian with roots in Stafford County, Virginia. She attended the public schools of the District of Columbia, graduating from Armstrong High School in 1931. After high school, Hatter immediately began matriculation at the Miner Teachers College and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1935. In the fall of 1937, she enrolled at Howard University and completed her work towards a Master of Arts degree in History in 1939. Shortly after earning her undergraduate degree, her teaching career began in Baltimore where she taught geography, and in 1950, she was hired by the District of Columbia Public School System as a full-time substitute teacher. After a period of courting, Fowler and Hatter were married on June 27, 1944. Together they had four children: Andretta, Andrew H., Henrietta E., and John T.

Andrew Fowler (February 23, 1910 – January 4, 2003) was a Baptist minister, educator, school administrator, counselor, political and religious adviser, church statesman and civil rights activist in Washington D.C.

Andrew Fowler was born on February 23, 1910, in Inman, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, the oldest of seven children born to John Calvin Fowler and Ina Nesbitt Fowler, both native of Spartanburg. His father worked at various professions, including being a track man for the railroad. His mother was a homemaker and also worked as a domestic. Later in life, Fowler spoke of his childhood as "a happy situation," and he had a close relationship with his parents. Both of his parents emphasized religion, requiring Sunday School and regular church attendance. Fowler's paternal grandmother, Ellen, whose mother had been enslaved, was an important influence in Fowler's life; she passed on stories of their family history during enslavement in the United States.